Utility linemen are frequently required to cut an end for a power cable, for instance during a cable splicing operation, where a pair of power cables must be cut to a desired length and spliced. In the past, the lineman really required three hands to safely cut a power cable and, yet maintain control of the severed end of the cable.
The reason for this is simple. The cutting tool had two handles, one of which was stationary and one of which was oscillated back and forth to ratchet the cutter blade toward an anvil or an opposing cutting blade. (Before widespread use of the ratchet mechanism was adapted, cutting tools originally had a pair of long handles which were held together at a pivot point and the mechanical advantage was determined by the ratio of the distance that the cutter mechanism and the handle pressure points were from the pivot.)
With the advent of the ratchet mechanism, the cutter handles continued to be located on the opposite side of the pivot from the cutting head, and usually only one handle was moved in an oscillatory manner to advance the ratcheting mechanism to close the cutter blade.